Following Minnesota Bridge Collapse, New Scrutiny for Nation’s Ever-Privatizing Roads

n the wake of Wednesday's fatal bridge collapse over the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, the condition of the nation's highway system is coming under increased scrutiny. In 1990 the U.S. government rated the Minneapolis Bridge as structurally deficient and possibly in need of replacement. That rating was contained in the Department of Transportation's National Bridge Inventory database. More than 70,000 bridges across the country have also been rated structurally deficient. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates it would take nearly $190 billion to fix these bridges over the next two decades.

In Minnesota, many residents have begun questioning the spending priorities of the state and nation. Nick Coleman of the Star Tribune wrote a column yesterday titled "Public Anger Will Follow Our Sorrow." He points out that the motto of Governor Tim Pawlenty has been "No New Taxes." Last spring Pawlenty vetoed a five cent gas tax increase – the first in twenty years – that would have produced millions of dollars in revenue to help fix roads. Nick Coleman wrote: "At the federal level, the parsimony is worse, and so is the negligence. A trillion spent in Iraq, while schools crumble, there aren't enough cops on the street and bridges decay while our leaders cross their fingers and ignore the rising chances of disaster."

On the national level, the highway trust fund is about to go broke. When President Bush took office the fund had a $23 billion surplus, but it is expected to be running a deficit by next year in part because Bush killed an increase in gas taxes two years ago.

The columnist Jim Hightower recently accused the government of deliberately defunding these vital infrastructure projects in an effort to open the door to privatization. Investment firms including Goldman Sachs, the Carlyle Group, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley are forming large funds to purchase publicly owned infrastructure projects.

And the privatization of the nation's roads has already begun. In Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has leased the 157-mile Indiana Toll Road to a foreign consortium from Spain and Australia for $3.85 billion over the next seventy-five years. By one calculation, the Toll Road will generate $11 billion over the life of the lease. Indiana's governor Mitch Daniels has been nicknamed Mr. Privatize by some for his willingness to sell off public assets. Before coming to Indiana, Daniels served as the President Bush's White House budget director. And Indiana is not alone. In Illinois, officials signed a 99-year, $1.8 billion lease to hand over the Chicago Skyway.